1984

[poleboy]

Orwell's version of socialism: "Oh, look at all the poor people, isn't it terrible. Fetch me my binoculars and I will observe them and pass judgment. All shall heed what I have to say because I am a novelist and occasional essayist."

You might want to try reading his first book. He lived part of his youth in abject poverty, starving and surrounded by bums, which he developed a sort of grudging sympathy for. He was educated and of good breeding, which meant he considered himself better than a common worker. But at the same time, he despised the English bourgeoisie for their willingness to let tens of thousands of capable workers lead a meaningless existence as hobos, wandering from one poorhouse to another and exploit them for the little money they had at the same time.

 

[Good morning blues]

All you people saying that Great Expectations isn't awesome are crazy.

That said, 1984 is also fantastic, and if you like those dystopian sorts of novels, I'm also going to echo the recommendations for Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 (not to be confused with Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11, because people who haven't heard of the book that the movie takes its name from always get the two mixed up).

As for Orwell, he was clearly no Frankfurt School scholar, but 1984 is still a remarkable treatise on totalitarianism and the great (and I would argue highly realized) potential of advanced technology to make slaves of us all.

 

[Redlac]

I did'nt read 1984 until 2007. I thought it was good. Read it, make your own mind up.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

You've also provided no proof that "1984" was pro-capitalist propaganda.

Why do I have to provide proof? It's bleedin' obvious. 1984 has been a bible for "I want my freedoms and I want them now!" neo-liberal fundamentalists for decades. Any time anything state-centric is announced we hear cries of, "OMG, 1984 iz 4 real!!!!!" He even insinuates that a communist state - sorry, a fictional totalitarian state - is intrinsically anti-Jew, itself (ironically) echoing one of the oldest racial stereotypes in the book.

Fuck Orwell, seriously.

Forgive my crudity, but I reply: Shite.

Orwell fought to protect socialism in the Spanish Civil War. He joined a military unit that had 70% aggregate casualties, poor gear and would be excecuted if they were captured (the International Brigade were treat as mercenaries and excecuted by the nationalists). What he was demonstrating was an existing state- Stalinist Russia. THAT. WAS. 1984. That was Orwell's fear- that his beloved ideaology would be corrupted to such an end and wind up in England. It's not 'Propaganda', because it's modelled on a real society.


For my A-Levels, I had to do two books. Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah, which was an exercise in stupidty and Pan-Africanist bullshit, and Johnahen Swift's Gulliver's Travels which was utterly spectacular and quite funny. I would reccomend it to anyone wishing to learn the art of satire.

Other books:
Animal Farm. Excellent historical parable of Stalinist Russia.
1984. I think I've outlined it nicely.
Great Expectations. Gah, make it stop.
The Illiad. Splendid.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hate! Hate! Hate!

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

In Soviet Russia (as well as everywhere else) YOU watch Big Brother.

 

[Senor Smoke21]

Definatly the best text I did at High school. At times it is truly depressing but still a great read. Been meaning to pick up a copy of Animal Farm aswell.
=]

 

[Rolling Thunder]

The problem is that BOTH of you seem to be under the delusion that your interpretation of socialism is THE right one, rather than being what it is, which is simply part of a very broad gamut of ideals, methods and so on that are loosely termed 'socialism'.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

My favorite classic book is The Count of Monte Cristo. I made it about halfway through 1984, but it just didn't do anything for me. Sorry.

Contrary to the opinions of most Escapists (it seems), I quite liked Great Expectations. I especially liked the BBC-style film adaptation in which Mr. Jaggers is played by Emperor Palpatine. No joke. Seriously, go look it up.

 

[kordan11]

And I reject the notion that you can shun communism yet also remain a socialist.

Then you, my friend, are very very wrong.. because you're seeing it the wrong way around. You can be pro-socialist and not pro-communist. But you cannot be pro-communist without being pro-socialist.

Plus, as someone already pointed out, Orwell seems to be taking a whack at Stalin's Communist Russia, which was in itself a derivative of Communism I believe. At least, it definitely didn't work as pro-communist people would like Communism to work.

And to stay on topic, it's a great book. And scary. Not psychological-horror type scary, or jump-out-of-the-dark type scary. Just scary, bleak, pessimistic... and great!

P.S. I will not go into the debate of Orwell's political beliefs, as I have no knowledge whatsoever on the subject, and to be honest I couldn't care less. Just thought I would point out some vibes I got from reading this book.

 

[PatientGrasshopper]

I am seeing all these V for Vendetta faces at the bottom of the screen and if you have seen that movie you get the gist of 1984 but it is still better to read the original yourself.

 

[Sewblon]

1984 was my favorite book for 2 years. It briefly dragged on in the middle but it became great again near the end.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Okay: You're a crazy fundamentalist.

And anyway, Orwell's attack is not on Communism. Never once does he mention Communsim as the spectre of 1984. Rather, his works are all a general attack upon totalitariansim, or more specifically, Stalinism, neither of which are mentioned in the Communist Manifesto you so kindly linked to except as a temporary 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat', which Stalin was most certainly not.

Oh, and to counterbalance the Manifesto, here is something that anyself-respecting captialist( or socialist. Or economist) MUST read@

http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/adam-smith/Wealth-Nations.pdf

 

[dukethepcdr]

1984 is a good book. What is kind of freaky about it is that it is written about an oppressive nanny state government that is looking less and less like science fiction and more like reality with every passing year. Back when it was written, the year 1984 was in the fairly far future. Some aspects of the books vision of the future are a bit dated but the descriptions of the government in the book are coming true today.